Week 12 Fantasy Rankings: Cedric Benson and Top Borderline Backs to Start

Cedric Benson has been consistently average for fantasy owners in 2011, rarely putting up double digits in points, but that is all about to change.

Benson has only rushed for over 100 yards twice this season, but one of those instances came against the Cleveland Browns, his Week 12 opponent.

He gashed the weak Browns defense for 121 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals' Week 1 win.

The Browns run defense has fallen apart, allowing 676 yards and five TDs in the last four games. That’s the worst in the NFL. The linebackers are slow and the D-Line is wildly inconsistent.

With the Bengals in a must-win situation to keep up with the Ravens and Steelers, expect a heavy dose of Benson to bring you lots of fantasy success.

Here are two other borderline backs to start in Week 12:

Jonathan Stewart vs. Indianapolis Colts

It’s beginning to look like the Colts defense is packing it in for the season as evident by the fact they’ve given up over 34 points a game in their last four contests.

The run defense is allowing 145.6 YPG, which is better than a grand total of one other team in the league.

When deciding between DeAngelo Williams and Stewart, remember that it was Stewart who had 109 total yards last week and double-digit fantasy outputs in three of his last five games.

Considering the Colts allow the most red-zone touchdowns of any NFL team…he is certainly worth starting this week.

Donald Brown vs. Carolina Panthers

So I’m essentially telling you this game is going to be a dream for running backs.

The Colts are 31st in run defense while the Panthers are 30th. They were just destroyed by the Lions' Kevin Smith, a guy who wasn’t even on the team three weeks ago.

With Joseph Addai still nursing an injury, expect Brown to be the featured back yet again over Delone Carter.

Everybody can run on the Panthers, so expect a minimum of 80 yards from Brown on Sunday.